Harvard Engineers Develop Programmable 'Metafluid' with Revolutionary Properties

The new fluid can change its compressibility, optical behavior, and viscosity, offering potential applications in robotics and beyond.

Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences researchers have created a 'metafluid', a liquid with programmable properties.
The metafluid's properties can be altered to change its compressibility, optical behavior, and viscosity, marking a significant advancement in metamaterials.
Applications of the metafluid include enabling robots to handle objects with varying pressures without additional programming, and potentially in hydraulic systems, electronic inks, and shock absorbers.
The fluid's unique structure, consisting of air-filled elastomer spheres suspended in silicon oil, allows it to transition between Newtonian and non-Newtonian states.
The development represents a leap forward in the field of metamaterials, with researchers planning to further explore its acoustic and thermodynamic properties.